Adenta highway protest: 6 WASS students knocked down this year - Headmaster

The headmaster of the West Africa Senior High School (WASS) has said six students have so far been knocked down this academic year on the Madina-Adentan highway.

Edison Osei Gyamera said Thursday afternoon’s unfortunate incident in which a student was knocked down and killed by a taxi driver has so far been the only casualty.

He told Joy News’ Komla Adom that mates of the female student killed in the accident had invited her to join them on campus to study.

But the student, who was in her early 20s, told her mates that she can only come over to the school when her mother who had gone out returns home.

At about 3 pm Thursday, she set out to meet them but she met her unfortunate death. The headmaster said he is yet to make contact with the family of the deceased student.

“We’ve had the contact of the deceased’s brother but all attempts to get through to him have failed. We are still making frantic attempt to get to the family,” he said.

The death of the female student on the Madina-Adentan Highway in Accra triggered fresh outrage as angry residents set tyres ablaze on the road. One could see billows of smoke clutch the atmosphere making the road with a 100km/hr speed limit unpassable.

“No more deaths!”, residents could be heard chanting following the accident which occurred at about 4 pm Thursday.

This becomes the 195th recorded death on the stretch this year alone.

Regarding a reported scuffle between students of the school and police at the entrance of the school, Mr Osei Gyamera explained that the students did not incite the police.

According to him, a few of the final year students who had come to check their WASCE registration rushed to the scene because “they were bit agitated when they saw what was happening.”

The headmaster said because the deceased student was a Muslim, residents in the mostly Muslim community nearby got angry when they heard of another incident involving one of their own.

“The Muslim community just came out in their numbers and started burning the car tyres. It was not the students who started it but the enraged Muslim community around,” he said.

Mr Osei Gyamera said he has been engaging the Assembly and police since the last two incidents.

“They detailed some wardens to come and help the students to cross the road especially in the morning between 6 am – 9 am and in the afternoon. It is unfortunate this incident happened outside the hours that they operate,” he stated.

He looks forward to engaging them more to find a more effective solution before the footbridge is fixed.
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